Furnace
by C.H.E.A.R
Summary: EC! This was actually a nightmare I had. The three CSIs are trapped and threatened, what will happen to them? WARNING character death, but not to worry the ending will uplift you.
1. Chapter 1

Furnace

Chapter 1: Break Room

One very windy afternoon the CSIs were on a short break, blowing off some steam. Eric sat quietly on the couch, with his head facing forward and very solemn. Calleigh shuffled about in the cupboards for a few mugs to put the coffee into. Ryan had just walked in to join them.

"Did you brew up some for me, too?" he asked with a small smirk. She turned around and glimpsed him, "Sure did." Her pleasant voice never ceased, no matter how horrible their previous case seemed. Ryan took a seat comfortably beside him on the couch.

"Hey man, what's wrong?" he noticed the disturbance in his figure, then he rubbed his shoulder, "You okay?"

"Yes, now don't touch me!" The other man backed off and shifted over to give Calleigh some space. She put down the tray on the counter near them and handed Ryan his mug.

"Thanks," he begun drinking away. After offering Eric his he denied it, so she just took hers and sat next to him.

"This is the first time you refused my coffee, something must be wrong," she teased playfully, "are you sure that you're okay?"

"Yes," he shot out scornfully then calming back down, "just leave me alone." Feeling that he was really hurt she rested her coffee on the counter and looked at him.

"I know. Someone died today and you wish you could've helped them," she soothed, running the palm of her soft hand down the back of his head, "I'm sorry." Then somebody came up to the door drawing their attention. Frank took a deep breath and said, "Guys, Horatio has got a case for you three. I'll take you to him, but we gotta leave now." He disappeared again followed by Ryan, who rested the mug in the sink.

"Come on, let's go," she urged ever so friendly rising from the seat. When he finally stood up she smiled slightly and held his hand. "Let's catch a killer."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Crime Scene

Soon they arrived at this colossal house. It was mostly made of long tinted glass. They met at the entrance, Calleigh stood infront of Eric who was near Ryan.

"Okay, I need you to go inside and search for clues. There's no body: we have a missing little girl," he ordered.

"Exactly what kind of clues are we looking for?" she queried.

"Anything child related and, anything suspicious. This is the place where she was last seen." She nodded and entered. After waiting a few seconds for him to move Ryan let out a suppressed sigh going around Eric into the house. His brother-in-law hung his head in despair.

"Hang in there, Eric," he comforted. Facing him he nodded and went inside.

It appeared dark and musty with barely any furniture. The youngest CSI was using his flashlight shining it in several places. Glancing up he said, "It's very unusual for a huge house, don't you think?"

"Yeah," he took a few pictures with his camera. "Where's Calleigh?"

"She just went into the other room." This was true but what they didn't know was that a guy had snatched her from the doorway, muffling her mouth and pulled her into a black corner. "There's no evidence in here, just dust," he neared the other room, "Calleigh, you get anything in there?... Calleigh...?" Someone suddenly dragged him into the corner. Eric followed behind him then in an flash a sharp pain came to the back of his head but he had no time to react to it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Darkroom

Random shouts came from a short distance and the place was a big blurry haze.

"Give me your guns now!" A male harshly commanded, holding his own rocket launcher aiming at them on the ground. Ryan handed in his first, then Calleigh. "Get his too!" She reached over to Eric's waist carefully taking his handgun and quickly pointed it at him. This resulted in a hard slap across her cheek landing beside her best friend. "Bitch, aren't you afraid of a rocket launcher!?" he then collected the firearms in one hand and began to walkaway backwards. Smirking he said, "Ha ha ha, just wait, the fire will kill you down here." He laughed diabolically disappearing through the passageway. Ryan touched her shoulder. Sighing she rose up holding her left cheek.

"I'm okay, but I'm worried about Eric..." she turned resting her hand alongside his face, he wasn't completely knocked-out. At that same moment he sat up with a moan staring down on her worriedly.

"No, I'm fine... what were you thinking, Calleigh? Do you wanna get yourself killed?" His voice was strong, it made her realize what she just did. Calleigh glanced down frowning. A few seconds passed when Ryan said, "What kind of place is this?" They all took notice of the concealed room they were put into. It was joyless and gloomy like the room they were once in except with a tiny bleak lightening and no windows. Ryan got up and went to the wall beside him then touched it slightly. A black chalky wet-like substance came off on his fingers taking the hue of the wall. "It's like a dungeon, or something," he faced them dusting off his hand.

"Well," Eric flipped open his phone, "while you get comfortable, I'll try and get H. and see if we can get out... damn."

"What is it?" she glanced down at their only source of communication.

"No service," he slammed it shut. Calleigh jumped to her feet and started roaming around with her phone.

"There's gotta be service somewhere," she hoped, staring on its screen. Unfortunately there was no luck in contacting their boss so she reclaimed her seat beside Eric.

"Nothing?" she shook her head at his question, "How are we gonna out of here?" He and Ryan glanced over at the black passage way at the same time. After giving him an unsure look the Cuban sighed and stood up. As they made their way towards it she followed to the entrance when he stopped her, "Calleigh, stay here..."

"Why?" she became disappointed.

"You could get hurt," he answered, blocking her from going in. Finally she gave in and remained there. It was almost pitch black to a point as they walked in cautiously, only the light from their phones guided them. He looked over his shoulder to see if she was following: she wasn't.

"This goes on for ever!" Ryan complained.

"Sh! Be quiet." Then there was putrid smell when they went round the corner.

"I-I-I smell decomp.," he stuttered as the light reached a dead end and their walking ceased. There was no exit, just a wall. Looking from side to side then down they discovered scattered bones and even skulls, but there was no telling where the odor was coming from - until they looked up. It was a head dangling from a rope around the neck with blood dripping from where it was decapitated! Ryan gasped, some of it dripped onto his face! The gory sight made him shriek and run, Delko just froze.

"What happened?" Calleigh asked surprised at seeing him quickly wiping the blood off.

"It's a complete dead end, we can't get out and..." he paused staring at Eric who came out with a nose bleed, along with blood smeared on the side of his face! It was weird that he stayed calm.

About four hours had passed since they've been trapped down there and it was getting to him. Ryan stood pacing nervously back and forth near the back wall, touching it twice each time he turned.

"Wolfe, chill," Eric told him. He was seated with Calleigh not far away from him.

"How do you expect me to chill, Eric?! We've been in here for so long waiting! Where the hell is Horatio?!"

"He's still searching for us."

"Yeah, this damn long," he stopped moving and stared at him angrily, "But hey, he's HORATIO, oh HORATIO this, HORATIO that, HORATIO is gonna save the day!"

"What's your problem?!" Eric stood in an instant, "The guy is probably killing himself tryin' to find us...!"

"Yeah, PROBABLY! How the hell you expect him to find us in here, there's no way out!"

"Then how'd we get in here in the first place?!"

"Guys, calm down..." Calleigh tried to stop the argument but they ignored her.

"Well, when you find the way tell me, 'cause he ain't gonna find us..."

"Shit, Wolfe!" Eric slammed him into the wall, and they begun fighting and cursing.

"Guys, stop, please stop!" Calleigh's shaken tone finally made them cease immediately. "Don't fight, look what you've done to him." Eric looked from her, now standing, to his colleague in his grasp, it was mainly his strength holding him up. He released the color of his shirt and Ryan fell to the ground. Slowly, in shame he walked into the shadows, a barren spot away from the incident.

"Ryan?" she hurried over to him, "Ryan?"

"I'm okay," he reassured, leaning himself against the hard brick wall.

"How could you say something like that? Don't you have any hope?"

"I don't know - I'm just sick and tired of being in here, you know, Calleigh? It's my OCD." She nodded, rubbing his sore hands. There was a bruise on his cheek that Eric gave him, he nearly wept because of it.

"What's it feel like, if you don't mind me asking."

"It's stupid. I mean, you'd be doing something then a thought pops up in your head telling you to do it that special way or keep doing it over, and over, and over again. And if something gets in your way of doing it, that one thought, it just haunts you until you do it right."

"I understand."

Soon she quietly visited her best friend in the corner. Down there had barely any light and it was lonely. For a while he continuously took pebbles off the ground and threw them into the distance until he felt a pair of eyes on him. He glanced up to find her standing beside him.

"Hey there, big guy," she greeted in a whisper kneeling infront of him.

"Hey," he replied hoarsely. Unexpectedly she reach a hand to his cheek, wiping away a fresh blood running from his nose. She asked, "You doing okay?"

"Mmhmh, just fine," he pulled his head away from her hand aggressively, continuing his silly game.

"Listen, I know you're sorry for what you did and um, I just want you to know that I feel the same way, too."

"What are you talking about?"

"I feel like there's no hope and, I'm scared," he finally face her, "do you honestly think there's gonna be a fire?"

"I, I don't know," he replied sadly. Then tears welled up in her eyes and fell in streams down her now disturbed face. Damn, he had never seen her cry like this before; she seemed so helpless and out of control now. Without a doubt he pulled her into an embrace and she accepted!

"Let's go back over there with Ryan, so we can be together." Calleigh forced a smile on her face at his wonderful decision.

Now they were in close proximity together: Eric held Calleigh close so she rested against him and Ryan sat limp beside her. They watched as he touched the walls twice on each side from time to time with his forefinger crossed with his middle finger.

"Wolfe, you okay?" Eric asked.

"No, I'm not," he replied without facing him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Ending

A sudden earthquake awakened her from sleep and startling the others. Gasping she rose up from Eric's chest.

"What happened?" They both remained silent, and soon she realized why they all were sweating. "What is going on?" she questioned again worrying even more. Eric begun trembling uncontrollably and she turned to see Ryan mumbling incessantly.

"It's the fire, oh my God, it's the fire. W-w-we're gonna die, where gonna die..." he continued, huddled to one side. Suddenly the bleak lightening disappeared, leaving total darkness! Her body tensed as the heat got more and more intense. Then the ground shook once more making the room split in half and soon there was a bright orange light: fire! And a demon-like figure appeared floating above it! Its face was nothing but a pair of glowing red eyes surrounded by a black mist; the devil himself. Calleigh let out a scream and tightened her grip on Eric.

"Whoooo's firrrrst?" his deep evil voice asked. At the same time it flew over to Ryan, who had began bawling! It grabbed him by the color and dragged him from the corner raising him in the air. The screaming and kicking was terrible.

"Help, guys, help!" he cried as the monster drew him nearer and nearer to the pit. The rubber of his shoes stained the hard floor as he made a continuous effort to get away. "Help me!" She leaped out grasping his foot and Eric held onto her waist to keep her from flying off with him! But she couldn't hold on anymore and fell into Delko's lap. Ryan squealed and fought but there was nothing left that he could do: the devil dropped him right inside the blaze! The two sat hitched onto each other fretting as it neared them. Calleigh cried because it was going for her next. She let out a deafening scream when it tried to pry them apart, it got her the waist! Holding on tightly, he could feel her fingernails in his back slipping onto his sleeves. It was an attempt to save her life!

"Ahhhh!" Eric yelled as her nails tore his sleeves and penetrated his skin leaving long lines of blood on his arms! They were holding on by a thread, from palm to palm, until they parted.

"Eric, Eric!" her face got bright red. He watched helplessly, his own tears drowning his face, as she struggled and twisted and screamed his name. She was gone in an flash and he was already dead inside knowing that she was. So it all came down him, the only person left. The atrocious thing turned to him and he made a run for it! He ended up infront of the wall, on one side was a corner and the other was the fire. And with no hope left it caught him from behind.

"No, no, no!" he shouted and pleaded and got thrown in with ease. The hot flames scorched his skin, he squealed until he couldn't anymore...

"Eric, Eric, Eric?" a familiar voice was heard. Could it be, was he really in heaven? And so relieved by this thought he open his eyes: it was only Calleigh peering down on him. It was only a nightmare, none of it was real! Nonetheless he pulled her down onto the couch embracing her.

"Eric!" she giggled.

"Well stop ME if I'm interrupting anything," Ryan entered break room. Eric suddenly stood up and hugged him, too.

"I love you guys," he said. His friend shuddered at the sudden action that was taking place, "This is, uh, this is awkward." Calleigh laughed and join them.

THE END!!!


	5. Chapter 5

Later on that day, Calleigh was heading home. On her way out she notice him in the distance and stopped. For a while she stared at his tall figure outlined by the setting sun he was watching. A smile lightened her face and she proceeded towards him.

Softly she ran her palm along his back accidentally startling him. He glanced down over his shoulder.

"Oh, you," he said with a short laugh returning to the disappearing of the bright light. She giggled and stepped beside him.

"You okay, now?"

"Yeah, of coarse." A few minutes passed then he finally noticed her staring at him with a questioning face. "What?"

"What was that about, in break room?"

"Um, I'd rather not get into it."

"Why, I really want to know. Are you embarrassed?" she joked, trying to get a clear explanation.

"No, Cal. It was just a hug."

"Now I know Eric Delko doesn't just go around pulling people into a loving embrace like that, in fact I never knew he did in public."

"Fine - but just promise me, you won't tell anyone."

"Okay."

"Promise?"

"Yes!" she insisted taking his hand and wrapping her pinky around his. Patiently she waited.

"I fell asleep..."

"Yeah," she butted in.

"...sh!"

"Okay, sorry!"

"Um, I had a dream, well a nightmare really. Me, you, and Wolfe were processing the scene, then someone snatched us round a corner. We're in this kind of dungeon and we don't know how we got in or how to get out. Then a guy with a rocket launcher takes our guns and tells us that we're gonna die in a fire," he paused taking a breath, "Soon, after trying to get out and fighting with Wolfe, you calm us down...All of a sudden there's the fire coming out of the ground and, Saton appears, 'Who's first?' Before you know it I was the only one left, you both were - dead, and I was the only one left. Then I could feel the fire burning, I mean, scorching hot." Tears almost came to her eyes when his voice suddenly went low disappearing into silence. For a moment she just stared, wondering if that was it - it was.

"Wow," was all she could make out before he began speaking again.

"I thought it was real, because we all were in break room before we went to the scene, the exact place where I fell asleep... but although we were in there for hours, we were in there together. I distinctly remember, before you were gone, you held onto me so tightly - we were both screaming and I couldn't let you go, you felt so damn scared, I desperately wanted to save you... that's why when I woke up to your voice I thought I was in heaven," they both regained smiles again. "I, I really felt a connection." Finally she put together a sentence:

"Well, dreams are what you really feel."

"I just wish, I could feel that way again. Like when we couldn't let go of each other," he suggested in his sweet voice.

"Kinda like this?" she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his chest.

"It's not tight, but it works for me," he returned the embrace.


End file.
